Intelligentsia Coffee: A Pioneer of Third Wave Coffee Since the Mid-1990s

Like Stumptown, Intelligentsia is a company known for pioneering the US coffee third wave movement.

Intelligentsia Coffee was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1995 and specializes in high-quality, freshly roasted specialty coffee.

Intelligentsia was founded by Doug Zell and Emily Manzi, who moved to Chicago from San Francisco.

The founders were frustrated by the lack of freshly roasted coffee in the city. They opened their first coffee bar on Broadway in the Lakeview neighborhood, selling beans roasted in-house in a vintage Probat roaster to ensure freshness.

Intelligentsia is well known as a pioneer of the "third wave coffee" movement, which treats coffee like a luxury ingredient and focuses on the origin, variety, and terroir of its coffee.

The company sends its suppliers directly to producing countries, sells coffee at prices far above fair trade prices, and works closely with farmers to improve quality and sustainability.

Rather than purchasing coffee beans from importers or based on commodity market (C-market) prices, it sends buyers directly to farms and negotiates prices based on quality.

Specialty Coffee Workshops (ECW): They host annual workshops that bring together producer-partners from around the world in one location. This allows farmers to sample each other's coffee, share best farming practices, and understand the final product.

This model requires thorough logistics management, as they often act as the "importer of record" that manages the supply chain from farms to the roasting plant in Chicago.

Intelligentsia is headquartered in Chicago.

It was one of the first specialty roasters to aggressively expand into new markets, focusing on "coffee bars" rather than typical cafes. It began in Los Angeles (Silver Lake) and later opened multiple coffee bars in locations including Broadway, Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, Monadnock, and Millennium Park.

Intelligentsia is known for a roasting style that brings out the beans' natural fruitiness and acidity (lighter than Starbucks, but more refined than modern Scandinavian-style roasters).

Black Cat Espresso is their flagship blend and arguably the most well-known espresso blend in the American specialty coffee market.